


Bad luck

by twdeadfanfic



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl's PoV, Established Relationship, F/M, daryl thinks a lot, violence twd style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-06 05:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16826494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twdeadfanfic/pseuds/twdeadfanfic
Summary: I had an anon request  for a fic in which Daryl, Rick and the reader go out on a run, but the reader gets hurt. I got a little carried away and it ended up being too long to be a one-shot, so I divided it in two.I decided to try and wite it from Daryl’s pov, it was quite challenging but I really enjoyed it!As always, excuse me if there’s any mistake, English is not my first language.





	1. Chapter 1

Daryl looked at the perimeter around as the car drove fast, trying to find some place, anything, where they could find the supplies and food that day after day Rick and him went out looking for. Through the rearview mirror he saw Y/N on the back, blissful smile on her face.

“What’re you smiling about?”

“You.” She replied, her grin growing bigger, and Daryl felt his cheeks heat up.

She did that a lot, make him feel like that, she was always able to make him blush and turn him all flustered and babbling. He’d have hated it, making him feel like an idiot, if it weren’t for the warm feeling that always came with it, spreading through him, making his stomach do weird things and his heart go crazy.

It wasn’t a feeling he was used to. Most times, it still made him feel light headed. Sometimes it made him feel like he was floating. Other times it made him feel like running and hiding. He could never run away from her, though.

A low chuckle coming from the driver’s seat made Daryl come back to earth and he rolled his eyes at Rick, feeling like he was just blushing even more.

“I’m smiling at you too, just so you know it.” Y/N told Rick.

“Better smiling at me than glaring me down,” Rick replied, sounding amused, while he looked pointedly at Daryl for a second before training his eyes on the road again. Daryl just scoffed at him.

“See, that’s what I mean.” Y/N leaned forwards so she could look at them better. “You’ve been looking so stressed lately…I know we all have gone through a lot but it’s nice to see you smiling again. Both of you.”

Daryl felt Y/N’s hand at the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair and he couldn’t help his smile. He knew he hadn’t been doing great in Alexandria, but he also knew he would have done much worse without her there with him to help him through everything.

It wasn’t that he hated the place, like so many people seemed to think. It was more like the place hated him, no matter Y/N took the time to repeat him a million times how that was not true. People had been staring at him, looking at him weird since they arrived…because they were curious, Y/N would always say, but still it made his skin itch.

The place was the best chance of survival for his family, sure, with the tall walls and what not, but it felt strange anyway…the place, the people… he couldn’t fit in there. It felt like back in his old town, or in that quarry when he first met most of the people that strangely enough would become his family, even like back in the Greene’s farm. Back then he’d felt like an outsider, like he didn’t belong, like the people there didn’t want him around, and now all those feelings were threatening to creep back into his head day in day out, no matter Y/N always came to shoo them away.

Daryl had tried, for his family. They deserved that place, they deserved to be safe and fed, and sheltered from all danger, they deserved to have a life. They had gone through so much already.

His family liked Alexandria. They hadn’t trust it at first, of course, but eventually, they had settled in while it seemed he couldn’t. It’d worried him, even if he wouldn’t say it aloud, not wanting to make a fool out of himself. But some part of him had worried thinking that they were going to grow tired of him, or realize they didn’t need him, or wanted him, they would find better people, and he’d be forgotten. If that’d have happened, then he could have always taken his bike and leave that place, drive far away alone…but the idea made him feel like someone was ripping his heart out of his chest.

Somehow he had become dependant of those people, of who now Daryl called his family. Merle would have laughed at him for sure, at how weak he was, how dependent of others. Daryl himself still berated himself for it too sometimes, but those voices were getting weaker and weaker.

Y/N seemed to have noticed how he felt without him saying anything, though, reassuring him again and again how he had nothing to worry about until Daryl almost believed it.

Aaron, the Alexandrian that had brought them in, had tried to help him too, Daryl still didn’t know why. He would always say how Daryl didn’t belong out there but in Alexandria, though Daryl wasn’t sure he believed it. Aaron had found him a job that got him out of Alexandria, looking for people with him, and for that Daryl was grateful. Sometimes that place felt like too much, the walls felt too constricting, his mood would spiral down out of control and he feared he’d end up lashing out at Y/N when she was just trying to help or he’d push her away from him out of moodiness. Being out helped, made him feel better, and Y/N knew it.

He owed that to Aaron, he was a good man and Daryl had found himself thinking of him as a friend. Aaron’s boyfriend, Eric, too. And the doctor, Denise. Those were good people. They made it easier to stop feeling out of place, not matter sometimes he still woke up with the urge to just get on his bike and drive far away from there, on his own again.

But Y/N would be curled up next to him and he couldn’t leave her, couldn’t do that to her, couldn’t tear himself away from her, the thought of not being with her made his stomach clench. Couldn’t do it to his family, either. And if he was honest, he didn’t want to, no matter what Merle’s voice told him or how he laughed at him, the idea of never seeing his family again hurt. It made him feel weak sometimes, silly even, but most times the feeling kept him going, he had a purpose, to keep his family safe.

“You call that a smile?” Rick nodded at Daryl. “I know for sure that you can make him smile bigger when you really try.”

Daryl fought the urge to roll his eyes at his friend again. It seemed Rick had found an endless source of amusement at teasing him about his feelings for Y/N, even back at the prison, even before Daryl himself had made sense of what he was feeling and had come to terms with it. Granted, there hadn’t been much time for teasing and joking after the Governor came back to the prison, after everything that happened then…but Daryl didn’t want to think about it now and he focused on the feeling of Y/N’s fingers playing with the hair at the back of his neck.

It was then, after Terminus, after he almost lost everyone again after just finding them, and almost lost his own life, that he and Y/N had gotten together, officially together he supposed. He had “had a crush” on her, like Rick and Carol loved to say to tease him, long before that though.

But no matter if he tried, Daryl couldn’t really pinpoint the moment in which he realized his feelings for her were changing, growing in an unexpected way. He caught himself smiling not only at her but at the thought of her, staring at her while she went with her life around the prison. His heart would skip a beat when she looked back at him, his stomach would do funny things when she talked to him, offered to help him around or just kept him company.

It had scared him and it had made him feel like an idiot. He had kicked himself about it, tried to get himself together, tried to stay away from her, but he couldn’t. Now he was glad he hadn’t, though, Y/N was the best thing that had happened to him and he knew it.

He still couldn’t make his head about Y/N feeling like him and reciprocating his feelings. Carol had always been telling him Y/N liked him too and to go for it, but Daryl couldn’t believe it and the idea of having to admit his feelings to Y/N made his mouth dry and made him want to hide in the woods. The fact that Carol and Rick seemed to have noticed it had been bad enough.

So, when that first night after Terminus Y/N had gone to curl up with him as she had done before a few times, but she had cupped his face with her hands to gently bring his lips to hers, Daryl couldn’t believe it. His heart had gone crazy, he had been paralyzed, couldn’t even kiss her back. He had been terrified, but when he had looked at Y/N, somehow his fear had gone away and he had found the courage to kiss her. Her smile against his lips, the way in which her eyes lighted when she pulled back to look at him like he was something worth looking at like that, made him feel like floating, gave him everything he needed to whisper to her all his feelings, all his fears, everything that he kept buried inside him.

They had done that for each other since then, taking care of each other, supporting each other. More Y/N for him than him for her, Daryl felt. She had made him keep going, he wasn’t sure if he’d have been able to do it without her. After he lost Beth, after he almost lost the others to thirst, starvation, exposure, walkers, without him being able to help them. He had had Y/N by his side and that had kept him going, had kept him sane.

Daryl couldn’t stop himself from turning his head to look back at Y/N with a growing smile on his face.

“No, see, he’s smiling too,” Y/N said, running her knuckles over Daryl’s cheekbone and looking at him in that way that took his breath away, made him feel more loved than he had ever felt, made him still wonder how someone could look at him like that. “But yeah, I can make him smile bigger, but you would have to leave us alone.”

Rick let out a big laugh at that, Y/N joining him. Daryl scoffed, embarrassed, shaking his head and pulling away from Y/N’s hand to slump into his seat. Still, when he heard Y/N’s giggle and noticed his hand sneaking around his seat to find his hand and squeeze it softly, he couldn’t help his own smile.

It took them a while of driving until Daryl spotted a warehouse ahead.

“There.”

He pointed it at Rick, making him turn the car abruptly and speed up towards it. For someone who had been a cop, Rick liked to drive his car as fast as Daryl’d liked to drive his bike. Y/N had pointed it out once to tease Rick and since then Daryl had stolen it from her so he’d have something to tease him about when he was trying to embarrass him back.

The place seemed deserted when they parked the car, no walkers on sight, but still they looked around cautiously as they got out of the vehicle. Nobody seemed to be around, dead or alive.

Y/N came from behind Daryl, taking his hand to lace their fingers.

“Did I embarrass you too much?” She asked, a fond smile on her face, and Daryl couldn’t help but smile back.

“The usual.” He shrugged and Y/N giggled softly.

“I like to see you happy like this.”

Daryl pulled her closer to press a soft kiss to her forehead. Rick was right, she always managed to make him smile, no matter how down he might be feeling she always made him feel better.

“You two are gonna follow me and focus on this or what?” Rick called from ahead, amused. “I’m going to have to regret having told you to come with us, Y/N, you’re distracting him too much, I’m not taking you with us again.”

Daryl scoffed, hating how he was blushing once again and glaring at his friend, but Y/N just laughed and rushed to Rick, pulling Daryl behind her, still holding his hand.

“No! I was so excited when I was told to join the pros on a run! You can’t leave me behind, great leader!” Probably she was trying to sound dramatic but she just sounded amused, and if you asked Daryl, adorable. Rick snorted, rolling his eyes at her.“I was so happy to join you guys, you always go out only the two of you alone, I was starting to wonder if I should get worried…”

Daryl scoffed but Rick couldn’t help but laugh.

“Come on,” he nodded towards the warehouse, an amused smile still on his face. “This place seems empty and there are no walkers around.”

“Lucky us.”

*

They hadn’t been lucky, the warehouse hadn’t been as empty as it had seemed at first sight, there had been men inside, well hidden, waiting until they had them where they wanted them. When Daryl felt the barrel of a gun pressing against his temple he wondered if Rick had been right and he had let himself be distracted by Y/N too much. He should have been more careful, he should have checked the place more and better, he should have realized sooner that they weren’t alone, and certainly he shouldn’t have allowed them to split.

“Don’t you dare.” The man warned when he noticed Daryl trying to take his gun.

“Move away from him!”

All hope Daryl had had of Y/N being hiding somewhere broke when he heard her voice and saw her stepping in front of them, pointing her gun at the man. Daryl wanted to yell at her to run away from there but he knew she wouldn’t listen, he wouldn’t either if he were in her place.

“Sweetheart, lower that gun or I put a bullet into his head.” The man replied, his gun pressing harder against Daryl’s head. Y/N’s eyes were lit with rage but Daryl could see the fear in them too, the way in which her hand shook. “No? Are you going to shoot? See who’s faster, you or I? Alright.”

“No, no, wait.” Y/N said and Daryl shook his head no when she dropped her gun.

For a second, Daryl wondered about trying to fight against the man, though probably he’d be dead the second he moved. But he had to do something. Then, another man stepped in, gun pointed at Y/N and fear gripped Daryl’s heart. They’d kill her too. He had to do something, but he couldn’t think of anything, didn’t know what to do.

His last hope was Rick and that died too when a couple man walked him to them, guns pointed to his head too.

Daryl forced himself to keep it together, to keep his head cold, he needed it if he wanted to get Y/N out of there alive. She seemed to be holding herself better than him, though, he saw her looking from men to men, surveying them as if trying to make a plan on her head.

When her eyes landed on his, Daryl nodded ever so softly, trying to reassure her that everything would be fine even though he couldn’t believe it, even though he was scared to death thinking those men were going to kill Y/N and Rick in front of him and he couldn’t do anything to stop them.

Y/N nodded back before looking at Rick. It wasn’t the first time they had been attacked, they had gotten themselves out of similar situations before, they could almost communicate with each other without words, just by looks. But still, it had never been like this, with all them being held by gunpoint and without any backup.

Daryl didn’t have any ideas about how to get them out of there, but he had to do something.

He began to turn around to try and throw himself at the man, half expecting to be shot in a second, but instead of that he hit his head hard with the gun, making him feel dizzy, his vision going blurry, a trail of blood sliding down the side of his face, and then the man pushed him onto the floor.

“Hey! Leave him alone!”

Daryl heard Y/N growling and as his head stopped spinning he saw the man holding her pushing her onto her knees too. He gripped her hair, holding her in place and pressing his gun to the back of her head, looking at Daryl. Daryl was shaking of rage but he got the message and he didn’t try to move again. Tears of fear and anger burned his eyes and he bit his lip until it bled to stop himself from crying, from saying anything, from doing anything that could get Y/N killed.

“Stop!” Rick’s voice commanded. “What do you want?”

“What do you have?”

“Nothing, we came here to scavenge for things.”

“Bad luck.”

“We have a car.” Y/N interrupted the conversation. “Parked outside, full of fuel, you can have it, and the stuff we have inside.” Daryl looked at her, wondering what she was doing. “You can go and check.”

The men looked at each other for a couple seconds and then one of them nodded.

“Alright, you’re coming.” The man yanked her up onto her feet again and pushed her in front of him, holding the gun to her head. “If it’s a trap or something, I’m killing you.”

Daryl growled but before he could try to move again Y/N shot him a warning look and Rick shook his head at him ever so slightly. He tried to calm down, even though he was terrified for Y/N, but he also knew there was nothing he could do. At least now Y/N was taking away one of the men, Daryl could only hope he wouldn’t hurt her.

As they stepped out of the warehouse Daryl could hear the voice of the man loudly saying he’d kill Y/N if someone else was outside and tried something. When the door closed behind them Daryl felt his scared heart beating faster and faster until he felt it was going to jump out of his mouth. He couldn’t do anything, seconds felt like hours and he still didn’t know what to do, Rick wasn’t telling him anything, and he couldn’t take it anymore.

He was about to try to throw himself to the man again, not caring if it ended up with him being shot dead, when he heard a couple of shots coming from outside. His blood froze in his veins, fear gripping his heart as images of the man shooting Y/N flooded his mind, paralyzing him.

“Daryl!”

Rick’s voice, urging him, forced him back to his senses. The men had lowered their guard at the gunshots, and Rick had taken advantage of it to throw himself at closer two and was now struggling with them, skillfully disarming one of them and shooting the other with the gun he’d just taken.

Daryl moved just in time when the man holding him down pressed the trigger, the bullet just grazing his shoulder, but he didn’t feel the pain, tackling the man to the ground, hitting his head hard against the floor. The man stopped struggling and Daryl didn’t care if he was dead or unconscious.

He looked up to see if Rick needed any help just in time to see him shot dead the other man. Besides a bloody nose and a bruised cheekbone, he seemed good enough and so Daryl rushed onto his feet and run towards the door.

There was a gunshot behind him, Rick putting down the other man, and then he was running behind him too.

Daryl opened the door and found Y/N near the car, knelt down next the body of the remaining men, who was dead on the floor with Y/N’s knife embedded into his throat.

“Y/N! Y/N, you alright?!” He asked frantically, reaching out to help her up. “Are you hurt?”

“You made it.”

Y/N looked up, smiling weakly from him to Rick and then back at him. Daryl felt sick at the sight of the thin thread of blood that dripped from the corner of her mouth, his panic getting out of control as he noticed how weak she sounded, how pale she was, the sweat that covered her pained face. “It’s okay…I’m gonna need more than a band-aid, though…”

She groaned in pain when she tried to take Daryl’s hands and when she moved Daryl saw how the side of her shirt was wet with blood. He dropped onto his knees and lifted her shirt, horrified to find more and more blood pouring from a bullet wound at her side. The man had shot her, he had really shot her.

Daryl couldn’t breathe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have time, please drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts about this!

“Rick…Rick…” Daryl could only call for his friend, feeling terrified and helpless, barely finding his voice.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Y/N assured quietly, seeming like she was going to pass out at any moment. Daryl felt the same.

Rick knelt next to him, pushing him to the side so he could get a better look. Y/N cried out in pain when he pressed hard at the wound and Daryl had to resist the urge to push him away from his girl and stop him from hurting her more. He knew Rick was helping, they needed to slow the bleeding, he knew the procedure, but he just couldn’t move.

“Daryl…Daryl, come on, we have to take her to Alexandria quick.” Rick urged him but Daryl couldn’t look at him, couldn’t tear his eyes away from Rick’s hands getting wet with Y/N’s blood. It was like one of his worst nightmares getting real. “Daryl, walkers are coming.”

“Daryl, brother, look at me.” Rick tried again and this time Daryl forced himself to look at him, swallowing the knot in his throat as tears fell down his eyes. “Come on. We have to take her to Denise, we have to slow the bleeding, alright?” Daryl nodded in acknowledgment, trying to fight the fear that paralyzed him. “She’s gonna be okay, but we need to move, come on.”

“He’s right darling, I’m gonna be okay…” Y/N murmured, her eyes closing as she wobbled dangerously, but Rick’s arm around her shoulders held her steady.

“Daryl, I need you to take her into the car and keep pressure on her wound,” Rick instructed, Daryl knew what he had to do but still he was finding it hard to do anything, his mind felt foggy. “Brother, come on.”

Y/N hadn’t opened back her eyes and Daryl kicked himself into movement. He took Y/N in his arms, hating how he made her whimper in pain, and took her onto the back seat, laying her down on the seat and on his lap while Rick rushed onto the driver’s seat.

Once he had her lying down in which he hoped was the best posture, he secured his arms around her so she wouldn’t joist during the drive and put as much pressure as he dared onto her wound. Y/N’s eyes snapped open at that as she cried out in pain again, tears falling down her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Daryl whimpered. Y/N said nothing but she nuzzled at him weakly, closing her eyes again. “Please, please, stay with me, please.”

Slowly, Y/N opened her eyes again to look up at him, struggling to open them again when they closed once more, but she was trying for him.

“Please, just hold on a little bit longer…fuck Rick, I know you can drive faster than this! Come on, man!”

Daryl felt Y/N shake and he was terrified thinking she was going through a seizure or something until he realized she was weakly chuckling.

“Don’t go hard on him, he was a cop after all.” She whispered before closing her eyes again.

Rick speed up though, in truth he had been driving faster than what probably was safe, and Daryl knew it, but they needed to reach Alexandria, he could feel Y/N getting weaker and weaker, slipping in and out consciousness, her blood pouring over his hands.

By the time they reached Alexandria, Y/N wasn’t waking up and Daryl didn’t think he’d ever been that scared before, not when the Governor attacked the prison and he didn’t know if she was still alive or not and if he’d see her again, when he had been too lost in his grieve to let himself truly feel, neither when he thought he’d lost her again in Terminus, not when he saw her starving and go thirsty without him being able to hunt anything or find water, nor when that quarry full of walkers broke lose behind them. Nothing could compare to the feeling of his hands soaked with her blood, the sight of her face drained of any color.

“Y/N, come on, wake up, we’re here.” He tried but Y/N wouldn’t open her eyes, neither did she make any sound when Daryl took her out of the car, her body limp in his arms.

He ran behind Rick to the infirmary while his friend gave answers to everyone who asked what had happened without stopping, Rosita rushing with them too after spotting them.

Denise was ready in a second, surveying Y/N and working on her as soon as Daryl lowered her onto the bed, Tara and Rosita helping her. Daryl didn’t know what to do and he just stood there helpless, looking at Y/N until Denise pushed him to the side.

“Daryl you gotta let me work, give me space!”

Tara grabbed his arm and walked him back a few meters, leaving Denise to work, helped by Rosita.

“Go and wait outside, you shouldn’t be here.” She told him, firm but gentle, and Daryl shook his head. “Daryl, Y/N…her injury is severe, she might not…”

Daryl looked at her in disbelieve. She couldn’t be saying that, it couldn’t be like that. Denise was going to save Y/N. She gotta be alright.

“I ain’t going nowhere!” He snapped.

“Okay, I get it, just don’t get in the middle.” Tara let out a sigh and pointed at his shoulder. “You’re bleeding too.”

Daryl ignored her, eyes trained on Y/N while Denise worked on her wound, feeling sick to his stomach. He barely even noticed it when Tara pressed a clean clothe to his shoulder.

He didn’t know how long he stood there watching Denise work, Tara and Rick standing at his side, feeling like he was stuck in a nightmare, almost out of himself, until the doctor finally stepped away from the bed. Daryl shook Tara’s hand from his shoulder and rushed to Denise.

“I’ve done all I could.” She told him before he could ask anything. “Take out the bullet, stop the bleeding…but it was bad, and she lost a lot of blood, so…”

“So what?!” Daryl knew he was snapping at the woman who had done everything she could to save Y/N, but he couldn’t stop himself. “What you mean?”

“I’m not sure if she’s going to pull through, Daryl…” Denise said quietly, looking down. “We have to make sure the wound doesn’t infect and hope she wakes up soon…”

Hope. He couldn’t just hope. Hope was good for nothing. Y/N had to wake up. Daryl stopped himself from snapping at Denise again and brushed past her to stop next to the bed. Y/N’s skin was as clammy as ever and she didn’t stir when Daryl brushed his knuckles over her cheekbone. He shifted his gaze to her side, eyes landing on the bandage that now covered her wound. He chocked a whimper, doing everything he could to not start crying helplessly in front of everyone.

“I have to take care of your wound too,” Denise said gently.

“Nah.” Daryl shook his head, eyes still on Y/N, he wasn’t going to move away from her side.

“Yes.”

Daryl looked up when he heard Carol’s voice, he didn’t know she had arrived at the infirmary. She walked purposely to the bed, looking at Y/N’s state and carefully pushing her hair away from her face before turning to him.

“Yes, you’re gonna let Denise tend to your wound and then you’re gonna wash all that blood and you are gonna wear clean clothes.” Daryl opened his mouth to reply but Carol cut him off. “Yes. Imagine how Y/N’s going to freak out when she wakes up and sees you like this, and she’s not going to like you didn’t take care of that shoulder.”

“And if she doesn’t wake up?” Daryl asked in a whimper, he couldn’t believe he was saying that.

Carol said nothing, just looked at him with sad eyes and reached out his arms for him. Daryl stepped closer, letting her wrap his arms around him and he hid his face on the crook of his shoulder, allowing himself to cry.

“It’s going to be okay,” Carol whispered, lifting his head from her shoulder to press a kiss to his forehead. “You gotta do what I told you, okay? I promise I’ll stay by her side.”

Daryl nodded, sniffing and trying to get a hold of himself.

He let Denise clean his wound and sew it, barely registering the pain, barely registering her words as she told him about keeping it clean. His thoughts were on Y/N. He shouldn’t have let that happen to her, he shouldn’t have let those men take her, he shouldn’t have let her go alone with that man, he shouldn’t have split from her. He should have been more careful, he should have known the warehouse wasn’t empty, he should have checked better.

But he hadn’t and now Y/N was paying the price.

If she didn’t wake up, if she died because of it…no, Daryl couldn’t even think it. He couldn’t breathe. How was he supposed to keep going without her, he needed her. He wasn’t ever splitting from her again, he wasn’t going to let anything hurt her again, but she had to wake up.

He washed the blood as Carol had instructed him and changed into the clean clothes she had brought him before making his way back to Y/N’s bed. He’d had the crazy hope she’d have awoken in the short time he had been away, but her state hadn’t changed.

Daryl didn’t think he had ever felt this helpless.

Silently, Carol reached out to take his hand and pull him to sit down on a chair next to her. As hours passed, one by one his friends came to check on Y/N and him, murmuring words of hope and comfort that he barely heard. Denise came to check on Y/N periodically but couldn’t offer Daryl much, just told him how Y/N wasn’t getting worse but how they still had to wait for her to wake up and get better.

Eventually, Carol left too, leaving him alone with Y/N. Daryl knew she’d have stayed the whole night with him, but he didn’t want to, she should be at home with that boyfriend she seemed to have gotten. And he needed to be alone.

He pulled his chair as close as possible to the bed, leaning down to run her fingers through Y/N’s hair, staring at her as if he could make her magically wake up, but her eyes didn’t open.

“Please, Y/N, please, you have to wake up,” he whispered, even if he knew it was stupid and she couldn’t hear him. “Please, darling, you can’t leave me alone here, you have to recover.” Y/N didn’t stir a bit and Daryl rested his head on her chest, unable to fight the tears that burnt at his eyes, whispering pleads.

Daryl seemed to have fallen asleep out of exhaustion at some point before sunrise, though he didn’t know how or when. He woke up to the feeling of fingers softly going through his hair. He looked up from Y/N’s chest to find the first rays of sun illuminating her still too pale face, but she was awake.

For a moment, Daryl could only stare at her while she kept gently stroking his hair, the corner of her mouth lifting up in a soft smile.

“Hey,” she whispered quietly.

“You’re awake.” Daryl looked at her dumbfounded until relief finally began to wash over him. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?“   
  
Daryl sat up to look over her, reaching out to brush his shaky fingers over her pale face. Y/N closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.   
  
"Tired… Hurt…” She let out a sigh and began to try to sit up, wincing and groaning, and Daryl rushed to help her. Y/N took the chance to wrap her arms around him and Daryl melted into her, burying his face into the crook of her neck, unable to stop himself from crying, all his fear and relief pouring in his tears.   
  
“It’s okay, I’m okay…“ Y/N whispered into his hair, pressing a soft kiss to the bruise on his temple.   
  
Daryl pulled away to look at her again, brushing her hair away from her face and leaving kisses on her forehead, cheek, until he reached her lips for a short, sweet kiss.   
  
"I gotta tell Denise you’re awake.” He said, resting his forehead against hers.   
It took all his willpower to pull away from her and leave her, even if it was only to go next room where he knew Denise was resting. He feared that when he came back Y/N would be unconscious and then maybe she wouldn’t wake up again.   
  
As if his fears had turned reality once again, Daryl’s heart leaped to his throat when he came back with Denise and saw Y/N’s eyes closed again as she rested propped up against the headboard, lying on the pillows Daryl had put there to make sure she was comfortable.

“Y/N?”

He eyes opened, much to Daryl’s relief, though she seemed to be fighting to stay awake, Daryl had never seen her looking so tired and weak, but she even waved weakly to Denise.   
  
“I knew you would pull through,” Denise told her as she went about to check her state. Daryl tried to leave her space to work on Y/N even though all he wanted to do was going to sit next to her again and pull her into his arms.   
  
“´Course I would…it doesn’t even hurt that much.” Y/N said, probing at her bandage.

  
“Wait until you wear off the painkillers.”

  
“Okay I lied, it hurts, keep giving me that shit."   
  
Daryl’s heart clenched as he listened to their conversation, even though he knew they were mostly joking. He hated the idea of his girl being in pain without him being able to stop it.   
  
“You’re going to hurt and feel like this for a while, I’m afraid.” Denise was telling Y/N “You’re going to have to rest and recover for a little while, you need to stay here for a couple days and then still take it easy at home.”   
  
“Okay.” Y/N sighed, looking like it was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.   
  
“Seriously, that wound is no joke and you lost a lot of blood, you need to get your strength back. I’m going to make you something to drink to help with that and then we’ll see when you can start eating solids."   
  
"Please don’t give me those Eric'purees for Judith."   
  
On her way out, Denise tapped Daryl’s arm reassuringly but he still couldn’t relax.   
  
"She’s right,” Daryl told Y/N as he sat down on the chair again. “I was scared thinking I was going to lose you.” He whispered, eyes cast down.   
  
“I’m here.” Y/N reached out to take his hand and squeeze it.   
  
Daryl lifted her hand up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. He knew that this was how their life was but that didn’t make it easier. Even now, more or less safe inside Alexandria, every time they went out they knew there was a chance of them being killed by a walker or people or anything. But he had never seen Y/N hurt like that and the realization that he could lose her at any moment made it hard to breathe.   
  
“At least I got that man.” Y/N said. “I was hoping it’d give you some time or I could sneak into the other men…Wasn’t expecting him to actually shoot me, he was fast."   
  
"That was reckless, you could have died.” Daryl’s heart was beating fast at the idea of everything that could have gone wrong, but he tried to calm down as Y/N’s thumb began to trace circles over the back of his hand. Last thing he wanted was to upset her in her weak state.   
  
“Said the man who hasn’t done anything reckless ever.” She smiled.   
  
“Just promise you’ll never do anything like that again.” Daryl hated how needy he sounded but he couldn’t help it.   
  
“You know I can’t do that.” Y/N’s smile turned sad. “Could you?"   
  
Of course he couldn’t, they were always doing things like that in order to keep surviving, in order to help the others. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect his family but the idea o Y/N thinking like that too scared him. He needed her safe.

“What if you had died…” He didn’t want to think it but the thought didn’t seem to want to leave his mind.

“Then you’d have to keep going, keep fighting and keep surviving and living.” Y/N said, matter-of-factly. “You’d done it before.”

Daryl shook his head. He had, sure, and he had lived without her for a long, long time, but somehow he couldn’t remember how.

“It was just an accident.” Y/N squeezed his hand. “Just bad luck. Stop overthinking it, remember what Maggie said, we can’t live with fear.”

That was easier said than done.

“Come here.”

Y/N tugged at his hand and Daryl looked at her confused, not understanding what she wanted until she patted the mattress next to her.

“It ain’t a good idea…I don’t want to hurt you…”

“You won’t, come on.” She tugged again, looking at him with begging, puppy eyes that he couldn’t resist.

“Denise ain’t gonna like it…” He tried, though he was already shifting to carefully sat down next to her.

“Are you scared of her?” Y/N joked as she lied down to curl up next to him and rest her head on his lap.

Daryl said nothing, just began to run his fingers through her hair, smiling when Y/N closed her eyes with a content sigh, almost purring. Daryl felt like finally, finally, he was beginning to relax.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” She whispered.

“Ain’t your fault…just…be careful…”

“Promise. I love you.”

Those words still made Daryl’s heart go wild,made his cheeks go red and warm, made a smile spread across his face, even in this situation.

“And I love you too.” He whispered back. “So I can’t lose you.”

“I can’t promise that you won’t, you know I’d if I could…” It was true, but it hurt anyway. “But I can promise that I’ll do my best so you won’t.”

In this world, it was the most Daryl could ask her, and all he could promise back to her. But for all that was worthy, he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone hurt he rever again. That, he could promise it without any doubt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have time, please drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts about this! Kind of nervous about the Daryl’s pov.


End file.
